Riders push for ‘Share the Road’ signs

STEPHEN THOMAS

Published 5:35 pm, Saturday, September 15, 2012

Photo: STEPHEN THOMAS

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Liberty resident Lina Rodriguez testifies Sept. 11 to Liberty City Council, urging the posting of "Share the Road" yellow signs to remind motorists to watch for motorcycles. In the photograph is Chas Soliday, husband of Dayton City Secretary Melinda Soliday. Chas was killed in October 2011 after his motorcycle collided with a pickup on Highway 90. less

Liberty resident Lina Rodriguez testifies Sept. 11 to Liberty City Council, urging the posting of "Share the Road" yellow signs to remind motorists to watch for motorcycles. In the photograph is Chas Soliday, ... more

Photo: STEPHEN THOMAS

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Liberty resident Lina Rodriguez addresses Liberty City Council Sept. 11 on motorcycle safety with a portrait of her husband, Jason, by her side. He died from injuries sustained April 4 in a collision between his motorcycle and a car in Liberty. less

Liberty resident Lina Rodriguez addresses Liberty City Council Sept. 11 on motorcycle safety with a portrait of her husband, Jason, by her side. He died from injuries sustained April 4 in a collision between ... more

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Liberty resident Lina Rodriguez passes out information about the motorcycle awareness signs that she urges Liberty City Council Sept. 11 to post. Dayton City Council on Oct. 15 approved the posting of those signs, and several already have been donated. less

Liberty resident Lina Rodriguez passes out information about the motorcycle awareness signs that she urges Liberty City Council Sept. 11 to post. Dayton City Council on Oct. 15 approved the posting of those ... more

Photo: STEPHEN THOMAS

Riders push for ‘Share the Road’ signs

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Liberty resident Lina Rodriguez lost her 30-year-old husband, Jason LeMelle, April 4 when his motorcycle collided with a car on Main street on Liberty. More recently she has picked up the torch for the motorcycle safety and awareness cause, even to the point of urging Liberty City Council on Sept. 11 to post signs intended to remind motorists of the likely presence of motorcyclists.

Dayton City Secretary Melinda Soliday will address Dayton City Council accordingly at its Oct. 15 meeting at Dayton City Hall. It will have been nearly a year since her husband, Chas Soliday, died from injuries sustained in a crash between his motorcycle and a pickup on Highway 90.

A score of supporters sat in the gallery as Rodriguez told LeMelle’s story and advocated the posting of the signs, which, according to information distributed at the meeting, have been sold by a Mississippi-based company.

She had a portrait of LeMelle facing council on her right. In front of her was a photograph of Chas on his motorcycle. Before she recommended a solution, Rodriguez poured from her sorrowful depths the tragic result of the problem, an apparent lack of motorcycle awareness that she and many others have pinpointed.

“Someone pulled out in front of him and disregarded his right-of-way,” Rodriguez told council about how LeMelle died. “I will always wonder, ‘Did he realize that this was his last moment on earth?’

“I don’t want any other woman or family or child to feel the pain we are feeling for the loss of Jason. ... My children have lost a man that has raised them since they were little, and his parents are at a loss for words. I don’t want this loss to be for nothing.”

Councilwoman Libby Simonson and Councilman Frank Jordan during the meeting pledged to purchase two signs each.

The yellow signs about which Rodriguez briefed council have black trim and black central art. They have been sold in a set of two for $29.84 by Custom Products Corporation, 1-800-367-1492.

One is baseball diamond-shaped and depicts a rider on a motorcycle in its center.

Its complementary sign has the same color scheme and a rectangular shape. It has three words presented in descending order, “Share the Road.”

“The majority of injuries and deaths sustained in motorcycle [and] four-wheeler accidents happen because the driver did not see the motorcyclist,” Rodriguez said as she read from a statement that placed the words “did not see” within quotation marks.

Rodriguez directed council to a page of similar signs that remind motorists of other conditions, including bridges that may be icy, roads that are slippery when wet, trucks that may cross a road, and pedestrian and duck crossings.

“But we do not have an adequate amount of road signs that alert drivers to watch for motorcyclists,” Rodriguez said. “If you could just think. On that day, when that guy decided to pull out, if there would have been a sign there, and he pulled out and looked and said, ‘Wow, watch for motorcycles,’ and then looked, maybe he would have seen Jason.”

Collectively, concerned citizens have successfully called for cities to proclaim May as Motorcycle Safety and Awareness Month, as Dayton and Liberty have done. The proclamation serves as a blanket annual reminder; the signs ideally would be an ubiquitous caution.

To advocates, the posting of characteristically yellow signs is another generation of tragedy’s progeny, another avenue through which they might save lives.

There is a process for addressing citizen concerns such as this. The first step in that process is an assessment and recommendation from the city’s staff so that a proper council consideration and vote may be taken. Hence, Mayor Carl Pickett invited Rodriguez to meet with Liberty Public Works Director Tom Warner. Rodriguez presented Warner a folder carrying all of the pertinent information, and that dialogue is already under way.

“I have a purpose,” Rodriguez said. “If I can save one life — one person, one child from losing a loved one — it’s all worth it to me.”